This Squirrel Doing A Superhero Pose Inspired The Best Photoshop Battle

A picture posted by Reddit user FlamingoShame of a squirrel digging the in the ground ended up looking like it was posing as a superhero, which resulted in an epic and hilarious Photoshop battle. Check out the most creative Photoshop projects.

The Original Picture

In the original photo, the squirrel appears to be digging for nuts in the ground, but his steely black eyed gaze, his tiny Wolverine-like claws in the air, and his haunches raised and ready to leap make this little squirrel look like he’s about to save the world from an apocalypse.

Of course, when the people of the internet saw this photo, they made the superhero connection and did what they always do: Photoshopped it into something even more hilarious. From an X-Men character to a casual game of pool, people got creative in Photoshop and created a bunch of different stories for this squirrel. Check out the best photos on the following pages.

Squirrelzilla

Reddit user Mmmmmmmmmmmatt responded to the Photoshop battle with a Godzilla-inspired image of the squirrel destroying Could Gate (colloquially known as “The Bean”) in Millennium Park in Chicago.One user pointed out that he left a couple casually strolling around the park like nothing was happening, but on the other hand, this is Chicago so how flustered are people really going to be?

The squirrels outstretched claw crashes into the building behind him while his supersized front paw smashes the cement surrounding the sculpture. An added sign in the foreground reads, “Do not feed the squirrels. They may bite you.”

Special Powers

Reddit user Sky_Pirate_XII responded to the Photoshop battle with their own superhero take on the plucky critter. The Reddit user Photoshopped the squirrel on the edge of his cliff, punching the ground and creating blue streaks of lighting with his paw.

Though the poster didn’t originally know what to call his hilarious photoshop creation, other Reddit users had plenty of suggestions, with some bringing up Norse and Japanese mythology, and one user saying, “I call it my new wallpaper. This is amazing!”. They seemed to settle on the name “Thunder Squirrel.” That’s one movie we would definitely pay to see in theaters.

A Superhero Pose

Reddit user SirWilly77 responded to the squirrel Photoshop battle with an epic submission. He transformed the squirrel into a superhero who just made a fiery landing in Times Square. By giving the squirrel laser red eyes, he intensified the squirrel’s steely gaze. The ground beneath the squirrel is also destroyed and on fire from his landing.

The Reddit user captioned the Photoshopped image with “Pretty much every Marvel film ever!” Another user, Spellbinder1981, agreed, saying they were specifically “remembering the scene where it happened in Deadpool.” At this point, Marvel must be running out of spin-off ideas. May we suggest Super Squirrel?

The Fighter

Reddit user ypoo responded to the squirrel Photoshop battle with a creative image of the fierce squirrel as a giant UFC fighter. The squirrel is Photoshopped into the ring and looks like he’s about to make contact with a human UFC fighter’s face.

Reddit user miikey666 praised the Photoshop job with a pun: “This is nuts.” Another user, Joshed11, responded, “That was acorn-y pun.” This hilarious Photoshop job definitely proves the original poster is fighting to stay in this Photoshop battle. However, some people responded to the Photoshop battle with altered images of the squirrel completing much more ordinary tasks.

An Everyday Hero

Though most images of the squirrel put him in superhero poses, Reddit user ChrisMess knew the most heroic thing that most of us do is get up from the couch and actually mow our lawns on Sunday. The Reddit user captioned the funny photo, “He wouldn’t bother but the neighbors were complaining.”

The hilarious Photoshopped image of the squirrel starting up a red lawnmower with his outstretched paw didn’t just catch the attention of other Redditors or people on the internet. The shot was also featured on an episode of the morning talk show Live with Kelly to the delight of the audience.

Murder Squirrel

One Reddit user, cronane, took this Photoshop challenge to the next level and imagined an entire movie featuring the squirrel. They captioned their fake movie poster, “A hero or a villain?” The poster reads, “From the creators of Sharknado: Murder Squirrel,” and features a Godzilla-esque version of the squirrel tearing up a city.

One user joked the movie would “do for squirrels what Jaws did for sharks.” Several other users expressed their interest in the film, saying they were sad it’s not a real movie. Do you hear that Sharknado creators? You just found your next idea. Please don’t make a Sharknado 6.

A Game of Pool

Reddit user GUANTATDT imagined a different kind of superhero for the squirrel Photoshop challenge — a like a Tom Cruise in The Color of Money type of hero. The user imagined the squirrel playing a game of pool, and Photoshopped a cue into the critter’s paws.

Like the altered image of the squirrel mowing the lawn, this poster proved making use of everyday objects could be just as hilarious as a big superhero landing. One user, Hexidian, loved the photo so much they commented, “Too good to be fake, this is a real photograph of a squirrel playing pool.” Another user pitched in with a GIF version of the photo.

Squirrel: The Last Furbender

Reddit user daveinsf drew inspiration from Nickelodeon’s animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender for this squirrel Photoshop battle and reimagined the squirrel as Avatar Aang, a monk of the Air Nomads’ Southern Air Temple and the last surviving air bender.

The squirrel has Aang’s signature blue arrow pointing toward its tiny nose and is holding an air bender staff in his outstretched palm. The Reddit user kept the intense squirrel in the original environment, and didn’t Photoshop the background of the image, relying instead on the funny props. This is one superhero squirrel who deserves his own spin-off show.

Janitorial Squirrel

What everyday hero is less appreciated than a school janitor? Without them, every school would be in a state of chaos, yet we never seem to hold them up as the heroes they are. Reddit user larrow11 decided to give school janitors some major props in the Photoshop battle that asked for the squirrel doing a superhero pose and imagined the squirrel mopping up in a classroom.

Reddit user doublemint6 said, “This is under appreciated,” while another Reddit user agreed, saying, “It’s so perfectly pedestrian.” This Photoshop edit proves this squirrel doesn’t need any fancy CGI graphics to turn into a superhero.

An Olympic Runner

With one claw thrown up in the air and the other planted firmly in the ground, this squirrel looks almost like he’s ready to take off on a run. Reddit user cagey_dev noticed this pose and decided to Photoshop the squirrel as an Olympic runner at the starting line of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

We definitely wouldn’t want to go up against this speedy squirrel in a race. Some Reddit users loved this unconventional approach to the Photoshop battle, with Reddit user mehbleh14 saying, “This one is my favorite.” Other posters stuck with the traditional approach for a superhero pose.

The Hero We Deserve

As the challenge grew in popularity and took over the internet, the squirrel became a symbol for the kind of hero America needs right now. Reddit user santorumsandwich imagined the hero we deserve by adding the ferocious squirrel to a Guardians of the Galaxy poster.

Guardians of the Galaxy already has one animal member—Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), a genetically engineered raccoon-like bounty hunter, so it’s not so farfetched to believe this strange little squirrel might be another genetically engineered fighting machine. Maybe the squirrel will make a cameo in the Marvel movie’s sequel coming out in May of this year.

The Squirreltrix

Can we pretend The Matrix Revolutions never happened and instead the third Matrix movie was actually The Squirreltrix? Reddit user bimmons imagined a better way to end the trilogy with this Photoshopped image of the squirrel.

The altered image shows the squirrel fighting back with a gun in his paw as he does a back-flip through the air. Bullets fly, but this cool as a cucumber squirrel’s steely gaze is hidden behind his black sunglasses. This was the Matrix ending we always wanted. Some Reddit users were inspired by films in a completely different way.

Squirrel Country

While an action movie mash-up may seem like an obvious choice for this Photoshop battle, Reddit user beboYep was inspired by a completely different genre. This Reddit user inserted the squirrel into a still from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, a black comedy adapted from the Hunter S. Thompson novel of the same name.

One of the film’s most famous catchphrases became an internet meme that was often added to photos of cats in cars: “We can’t stop here, this is bat country.” This altered image re-imagines the phrase as, “We can’t stop here, this is squirrel country.”

Retro Squirrel Rampage

Reddit user winterliketheseason8 decided to go retro with this Photoshop battle. The squirrel was inserted into the 1986 arcade game Rampage along with George, a King Kong-like giant gorilla. Together, they’re seen destroying one of the green apartment buildings in the game. The game’s protagonists were George, the giant gorilla, Ralph, a giant werewolf, and Lizzie, a Godzilla-like dinosaur. Super Squirrel fits right in with this group.

Reddit users loved this creative, retro approach with one user commenting, “OMG… from Rampage! Best.” Another user commented, “That takes me back.” We also love this unique approach and the arcade game reference.

Old Man Logan

Even without Photoshop, this squirrel has some seriously Wolverine-like claws, so it’s no surprise that the internet noticed and ran with it. Reddit user atraves took the Wolverine inspiration a step further and got very specific by channeling the “Wolverine: Old Man Logan” storyline from the Marvel Comics series.

The Reddit user added some serious length to those claws to give them a more Wolverine-like appearance, then added on the haircut and the beard sported by Wolverine in “Old Man Logan.” Reddit users praised the poster for adding the beard and said they were not disappointed by the funny edit.

Samurai Squirrel

Reddit user SmileyFace-_- saw the original photo of the squirrel with an outstretched arm and imagined a samurai sword in its tiny paw. This Photoshop battle submission edited the background to look like a traditional Japanese garden and gave the samurai warrior squirrel a tiny sword and a little Kabuto helmet.

Reddit users had fun with the image by comparing it to a video game and saying, “Wow, For Honor looks great.” Another user corrected with a clever pun: “Fur Honor.” At the very least, we can see a pretty fantastic animated children’s movie coming out of this Photoshop edit.

Giant Mutant Squirrels

What’s more terrifying than one life-sized determined squirrel? Four giant mutant squirrels destroying a city, of course. Reddit user TallHonky took their inspiration from the original photo and included the first squirrel on the ground smashing up the street—but then they took it a step further.

The Reddit user also Photoshopped three other flying squirrels into the shot, clinging to buildings orlaunching themselves through the air as the original squirrel smashes up the city. We would say this would make one great B-movie, but the Photoshop quality is so good that it might actually be too high quality to be campy.

Meta Squirrel

Leave it to Reddit to put a meme within a meme. That’s exactly what Reddit user renegade06 did with this Photoshop edit of the squirrel perched on top of Falling Bear. Falling Bear is a meme that started after a perfectly timed image of police tranquilizing a bear that was stuck in a tree in Boulder, Colorado circulated. The image shows the bear falling in midair, and was originally published in a school newspaper.

Like the squirrel, the bear made rounds on Reddit and spawned dozens of image macros and Photoshop edits. Combining the squirrel and the bear just made this Photoshop battle submission super meta.

Christmas Vacation 2: The Squirrel’s Revenge

Reddit user mexicant80 imagined the Christmas Vacation sequel that probably should’ve been made. At the very least, it would’ve been better that the universally panned made for TV real sequel, Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie’s Island Adventure.

This Photoshopped version of a fake National Lampoon Vacation series movie might just be ridiculous enough to be real. The Griswold family sits in the car, but they’re taking home more than just a massive Christmas tree this year. The intense squirrel clings to the front windshield for dear life and seems to be coming home with them. It may seem ridiculous, but it can’t be more ridiculous than the real sequel.